In Search of
The Authentic Life
“Pater Meus Servat Vineam”
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See above link and God bless you!
How exciting! We enter a new Liturgical Year, the Season of Advent and the traditional Cycle of Christmas, when we meditate upon the Mystery of the Incarnation. Unlike our cultural norms of indulgence and attending party after party, we who devoutly observe Advent, know this is a time of preparation and waiting. We do not celebrate until Christ is born. Until then, we make ourselves ready by performing penance and good deeds. Joy is always greater when there has been some discipline preceding the event.
We commemorate the Divine Infancy this month as we prepare to celebrate Our Blessed Lord’s Nativity. As well, we honor Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the United States of America. With all the need presently in this country, let us flee to her in prayer, beseeching many graces. The feast of the Immaculate Conception remains on December 8th in the trad calendar. In the new, it has been transferred to the 9th and is a Holy Day of Obligation.
Where can you get a good 2025 liturgical calendar? At Nomen Christi Apostolate, we represent unity between traditional Catholics and those who attend the Novus Ordo. Therefore we look at both calendars and when composing these monthly reviews, refer to both. Admittedly, this can be confusing. We recommend you choose the calendar you prefer and have it in your home to advise you of feasts each month…or hang both calendars! Many parishes distribute calendars for free. As for a trad calendar, here's a good one, which will also support the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter:
Fraternity Publications 2025 Liturgical Calendar
Let us remember the Ember Days of Advent on the 18th, 20th and 21st. This is great time to do Christmas crafts with children, incorporating winter themes. Encouraging children to perform acts of charity on these days would also be in keeping with the penitential character of the Ember Days, along with Advent.
A most Blessed Christmas and Christmas Season to all!
SAINT ANDREW CHRISTMAS PRAYER
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
in which the Son of God was born
of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires
through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ,
and of His blessed Mother.
Amen.
From Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary:
An indulgence that can remove all the temporal punishment due to forgiven sin. No one but God knows for certain when a plenary indulgence is actually gained, because only He knows whether a person's dispositions are adequate. One norm for such dispositions is that "all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent." If these dispositions are in any way less than complete, the indulgence will only be partial. The same provision applies to the three external conditions necessary to gain a plenary indulgence: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Pope. If these conditions are not satisfied, an otherwise plenary indulgence becomes only partial. These conditions may be satisfied several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work, though preferably Communion should be received and the prayers offered for the Pope on the same day as the indulgenced work. A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day.
From the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter’s Holy Cross Chaplaincy:
State of grace…when performing the indulgenced act
Complete detachment from sin, even venial sin
Confession (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Communion (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Prayers for the Supreme Pontiff (20 days before or after the indulgenced act)
Indulgenced Act: a special good work with…conditions of place and time
From November 1 to 8: visit of a cemetery with mental prayer for the poor souls
On November 2: visit of a church or an oratory with one Our Father and one Creed being recited
SOLAR FLARE WARNING CONTINUES: We saw the red aurora last night on Long Island, quite beautiful. But it also feels like a sign from God. It seems similar to the red aurora seen just prior to WWII, as Our Lady of Fatima predicted. Let us all ask for mercy and peace…and continue to pray for those in need after these 2 recent hurricanes in the US. For live updates of the solar condition: Space Weather Prediction Center Please also see our recommendations we posted during the last solar storm: Coronal Mass Ejections…
END OF SEASON GARDEN SUPPLIES! Think about taking advantage of end-of-season sales at your local garden/outdoor center. I just bought 17 seed packets and a new fire pit, that I saved $200 on! I also bought some popsicle sticks. They are great for marking plants. You can get huge boxes at craft stores.
CHECK OUT DISASTER PREPARER. You can get Electromagnetic Pulse products, books, electronic privacy items, audio books and videos.
FOR ALL YOU WOODWORKERS! Check out Highland Woodworking, Fine Tools & Education. My hubby is an unplugged carpenter hobbyist (thank goodness, if he worked with power tools, I would have a nervous breakdown) and buys from them. Have a look at their website for sales, catalog, newsletter, classes, library, blog, TV show, job opportunities, books and DVDs. Is that enough? If you’re just thinking about taking up wood crafts, this is a great place to get started! (Christmas is coming, encourage someone you know to develop this important sustainable skill with a simple gift such as a book or DVD-Saint Joseph will be very pleased.)
National Farmer’s Day is this coming Saturday, in the US. Those who produce our food with responsibility and hard work are so important to the human family and deserve the utmost respect. Unfortunately, they are now being attacked in America and Europe by the globalists who wish to re-write civilization. Farmers need our support and prayer. If you can’t celebrate this weekend, it would be fine to extend these ideas to the remainder of the month…the farmers won’t mind!
From the Old Farmer’s Almanac:
“This is a day to honor and thank all of the hardworking farmers and ranchers who plow, sow, grow, and harvest to feed our nation. We especially rely on farmers to get fresh food on our tables during these uncertain times. Let’s pay tribute to the men, women, and families who put food in the grocery stores and on our tables every day.”
“October does seem fitting for celebrating this National Day as it is near the end of the harvest. Many farmers will be able to take a rest from their hard labor to join in the celebration of this holiday.”
Also see: National Days in Agriculture and Successful Farming with a look at the American history of farming.
Okay, let’s see what ideas I can come up on how to celebrate this day, off the top of my head. I’m going to try to squeeze 10 ideas out of my brain. I did not say they would be good ones. Try to come up with your own!
Take your children pumpkin picking or apple picking or something picking.
Do farming-related crafts.
Watch videos about farmers.
Stick food in water and see what happens.
Learn about farming history. Homeschoolers, take a look at the link above, for an easy lesson.
Teach children about botany.
Organize something to honor local farmers. Maybe work with your Town Hall.
Play farm animal sounds for your dog.
Get a farming book out of the library.
Do a presentation at your local school or church about farming.
But most of all, appreciate the blessings of abundance you have, through the hard labor and discipline of our farmers:)
I recently met a lovely man at church. We talked a bit, and he emailed me a poem he wrote. He is a secular Franciscan and belongs to the Knights of Columbus on Long Island. Here is his beautiful poem…
Your beauty got under my skin, not like a knife, razor or nails
But like tea with honey and lemon, something stimulating, sweet and sharp
It's like you hit me by remote control and pushed buttons without pushing a button
Your beauty is big, like a forcefield that animates joy
And it is little too, like the gleam in sparkling blue eyes, the kind that animates life
If love makes the world go round, is it not true your beauty is being chaste?
This is my response to the question of your beauty
I give the white rose
By Clifford Proctor
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This guy is amazing. Start with the 2 minute video on the Home page which shows Dowding's idyllic farm in South Somerset, England. This site contains a wealth of resources including courses, books and a shop. Dowding has pioneered cutting edge gardening research, to create simpler methods that anyone can do. Have a look!
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Aaron Day
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This is an excerpt from an article at Zero Hedge, by Tyler Durden, from May 2024. It’s still quite relevant…and concerning. This isn’t only being done for political purposes, it is part of the move toward green energy. This sounds great on the surface, but it is being used as a tool to reduce freedom and create a total surveillance grid of energy consumption. Some might say this is necessary. Yes, a gradual scaling back is necessary, but defying human rights in the ways the globalists intend to, is unnecessary, cruel and immoral. Covid was only the beginning…
“Back in March, when reading the mammoth, 1050-page bill that was meant to avert government shutdown…we stumbled upon something that was truly shocking: after Biden singlehandedly drained half of the US strategic petroleum reserve to avoid obliteration for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections, Congress has snuck in a provision that would sell off and shutter the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve, a move that while perhaps keeps gas prices lower for a day or two, would also leave the entire continental northeast defenseless to any true environmental catastrophe or shock. We were so dismayed by the inclusion of this particular text, we wondered if it hadn't been put there solely for the benefit of America's enemies...because surely nobody in their right mind, not even the illegitimate senile occupant of the White House, would ever pursue such short-term gains at the expense of potentially disastrous long-term consequences to the entire nation.
We were wrong: earlier today, just two months after the bill was signed by Biden into law, the panicking administration announced that it would sell the nearly 1 million barrels of gasoline in the US managed stockpile in northeastern states, the Department of Energy said, effectively closing the reserve.
The department created the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve (NGSR) in 2014 after Superstorm Sandy left motorists scrambling for fuel. But, according to some megabrains hoping to justify the dumping of gas so its price drops for a few weeks ahead of the summer and avoid even more anger aimed at the President, storing refined fuel is costlier than storing crude oil, so closing the reserve was included in U.S funding legislation signed by President Joe Biden in March.”
[Edited since posting.]
From Brownstone Institute, a post-Covid freedom advocacy organization:
“Tracy Thurman is an advocate for regenerative farming, food sovereignty, decentralized food systems, and medical freedom. She works with the Barnes Law Firm's public interest division to safeguard the right to purchase food directly from farmers without government interference.”
Topics center on the globalist’s agenda involving food and how we can work toward greater freedom and safety.
Below, Chris Martenson interviews Thurman-it’s a fabulous discussion, well-worth the 2 hours of viewing. It took me about 2 weeks to get through it with my busy schedule, but I learned so much, including the potential healing properties of raw milk. From Martenson’s notes:
“In this critical interview, Tracy Thurman recounts her front-line experiences working with Robert Barnes to help protect the nearly relentless assaults on Amish farmers by a deeply corrupt Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture coupled to an equally corrupt PA court system.”
Here are some insightful quotes by Tracy from the interview:
“I came back to a place of faith through witnessing evil, and concluding that if
and that I needed to look for it.”
“If something is already filling the God-shaped hole in your life, it’s very hard for the state to become your God.”
“The control grid is built before it’s turned on.”
“I want to support the farmers who are giving me this incredible blessing of health.”
“Stop eating processed food. It’s poison and it’s becoming more poisonous. Get to know your food and your farmer. See if you can find a local supply. Be intentional about what you eat. Build a local community and start considering how you can set up payments for transaction with your farmer outside of the credit card or digital system because at some point that is going to be shut down for anyone who is a dissident raising healthy food outside the corporate system…
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Sometimes when I say Grace, I ask God to bless all those who had a hand in getting the food to my table. Thinking about this, I realize how many thousands of people are involved in our food system and how unnatural that is. A society requires balance between the local and the wider network. You can’t rely entirely on local, in the event that a disaster occurs. You also can’t rely entirely on complex systems which are by their nature, vulnerable (Martenson often talks about the unpredictable nature of complex systems and how disruptions can have a domino effect). All sorts of things can interrupt supply chains and recently, we are seeing more of that. The reasons are varied. With increasing geopolitical tensions, this is now an even greater concern. You may say (just an example), “Oh, we can get our food from California.” What about the trucks that need parts made in other countries? What if California suffers a major earthquake? There are so many things that can go wrong in our highly interdependent, fossil fuel dependent system. These natural resources are depleting, while population continues to grow and the non-Western world is starting to want its piece of the pie. Maybe we’re starting to hone in on why the globalists want their “Great Reset.” Is it all about resources?
Will green energy save the day? Well, it has its limitations. At this time, green is not even remotely capable of doing what oil, gas and coal can do, and is itself, dependent on these resources (see the work of another great mover and shaker SIMON MICHAUX). Perhaps a gradual transition to green is possible, but I don’t think it will be without concessions.
In the end, nature will have her way. In the end, the Authentic Life, the life God meant us to live, must return. This is His world and we are His children. As a society, we have a lot to think about going forward…and we need extremely competent leadership that is willing to make tough decisions.
I like Andy Schectman and I also like Kitco News. Here, Andy is interviewed by Michelle Makori. The Petrodollar deal which Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia is discussed, along with Nixon’s departure from gold-backing and the world’s current moving away from the dollar. There’s a one-hour video and a short article…
Excerpts from the article:
Saudi Arabia reportedly let the 50-year petro-dollar agreement expire on June 9th, opting to sell oil in multiple currencies instead of exclusively using the U.S. dollar. Andy Schectman, President and Owner of Miles Franklin Precious Metals, warns that if the "petro" is taken from the "dollar," the U.S. currency will be backed by "nothing," which could trigger "catastrophic" consequences…
The foundation of the petrodollar system lies in a 1974 agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United States. Under this deal, Saudi Arabia agreed to recycle its petrodollars into U.S. Treasuries in exchange for a security guarantee from the U.S., creating a strategic alliance that has significantly influenced global politics for decades. By 1975, all OPEC members had agreed to price oil in dollars and invest in U.S. government debt…
If the U.S. dollar is no longer the primary payment option for oil, Schectman foresees a massive spike in interest rates as one of the consequences, with the situation getting quite chaotic for the U.S.
“If this happened all at once, it would be catastrophic. It would be chaotic because the natural reaction of the dollar being dumped globally is hyperinflation. It would hit our shores in a tsunami of inflation,” Schectman said. “The dollar would collapse, the stock market would collapse, the bond market would collapse, the banking system would collapse, the insurance companies would collapse. Everything. This is the great reset.”
…The move away from using the U.S. dollar in international trade transactions is not new, but it has been accelerating…
A generator is a prepper must-have, but they must be used with caution. Read your owner’s manual and make sure you know how to properly operate it in the event of a power outage. Don’t wait for the outage to occur. If you don’t know how to use your equipment (or where to find it), it’s not going to be very useful if you suddenly need it. Carbon Monoxide is an issue with gas-powered generators. Electrocution in flood water is also an issue…and always be careful venturing into your basement during flooding!
From The Epoch Times:
Excerpt:
Mr. [Emergency Management Chief] Kidd said two of the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, and he warned against mishandling gas-powered generators to power their homes. He reminded people that carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas.
“If you have a generator that you’re running, please make sure it is far away from the area [where] you’re living and sleeping,” he said.
“These are preventable deaths.”
July began on the 1st with the celebration of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. What better way to honor and offer reparation to Our Lord, than to recite the Litany of the Most Precious Blood (see previous post), in the coming weeks? Litanies are one of the treasures of our Catholic faith, that have gone out of use. It is a joy to pray them and we must all work to bring back these beautiful aspects of Catholicism for ourselves, our children, and the future.
We honor Saint Maria Goretti, young Italian girl who died for purity, on the 6th and the 9th (new/trad). She was so quickly canonized, her own mother attended the ceremony in Rome.
We celebrate the holy life of Saint Benedict of Nursia, another Italian, on the 11th. He is well-known as the father of Western monasticism and the author of the Benedictine Rule, which spread throughout Europe (therefore he became the patron saint of Europe). Benedict left the sinful world to seclude himself in a rural area, much as some Catholic laity now are beginning to do. He believed in the self-sufficient community and wrote the principles upon which such communities would thrive. Also, he was known for invoking the Crucifix and performing many miracles. His medal is widely worn by the faithful and possesses indulgences. Benedict’s abbey at Monte Cassino still stands atop a tiered hill in the beautiful Italian countryside. His twin sister, Saint Scholastica, followed her brother in founding the Benedictine Order for women. Here are some prayers to Saint Benedict…you may also read further about the medal and even buy one at The Catholic Company…
This past weekend, at the Catholic Land Movement Conference, I was privileged to walk upon the ground of Saint Kateri Tekawitha’s birth, whom we honor on the 14th. This is also the holy ground, about 10 years before her birth, where Saint Isaac Jogues and his companions gave their lives for Christ. It was an extraordinary experience. Kateri is ever-present, in spirit and in statue form, at Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine, located in rural Auriesville, New York.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s feast is the 16th. She appeared to Saint Simon Stock, giving him the Brown Scapular. Our Lady of Fatima requested the wearing of this scapular. Also, at The Catholic Company, here is where you can buy the scapular, in addition to a booklet explaining investiture into this privileged service of Our Lady…
Further notable feasts of July:
19th-Saint Vincent de Paul
22nd-Saint Mary Magdalen
25th-Saint James the Greater, Apostle (vigil day before) / Saint Christopher
26th-Saints Joachim & Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
29th-Saint Martha
31st-Saint Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits
We provide both trad and new feasts.
© 2015-2024 Chiara F. Mathews Content may be reproduced or shared on the condition that this source is indicated.
